Solar System: The Name of a Miracle

The blue planet that is home to all the life in the universe…

The flawless system of which our world is also a part…

Has been constructed in complete harmony and on flawless balances. They are just some of the signs of the Infinite and Incomparable Might of Almighty Allah, our Creator…

The Planet Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. In terms of mass, its size is close to that of the Earth’s. And it has its own atmosphere. It can easily be seen from the Earth with the naked eye, close to the Sun, at dusk and dawn. It is the brightest celestial body after the Sun and Moon. Venus also has interesting features distinguishing itself from other planets. One of the most interesting of these is that on Venus one day is longer than one year. In other words, the speed at which it orbits around the Sun is greater than at which it rotates around its own axis. In addition, Venus moves in the opposite direction to the other planets. While the other planets all travel in a clockwise direction, Venus travels anti-clockwise, revolving at a very slow speed.

The Solar System consists of a star we call the Sun, nine planets that revolve in specific orbits around that star, and a large number of small celestial bodies. It is estimated that there are countless stars in the universe. These stars are located in particular galaxies. The Solar System is one part of the Milky Way.

Mercury: The first planet

Mercury is the second smallest planet in the Solar System, and is famed for being the closest to the Sun. Being the closest planet to the Sun; daytime temperature rises to as high as 427 °C (800 F). Since it has no atmosphere it does not retain that heat, and at night, temperature decreases to as low as -173 °C (-279 F). Since Mercury is close to the Sun it can be seen with the naked eye, like a bright star nearby the Sun, at dawn and dusk.

Your Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the Earth in six days and then settled Himself firmly on the Throne. He covers the day with the night, each pursuing the other urgently; and the sun and moon and stars are subservient to His command. Both creation and command belong to Him. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of all the worlds. (Surat Al-A’raf, 54)

The Sun: The Centre of the Solar System

The Sun, which is just one of the countless stars in the universe, represents the centre of the Solar System, of which the planet we live on is a part. The radius of this giant energy source, estimated to be around 4.65 billion years old, is around 100 times greater than that of the Earth’s. The Sun revolves around its own axis in about 27 days. The temperature at its core is 10 million degrees, and its external temperature is 5700 Kelvin.

The surface of the Sun is made up of strata, known as the photosphere, the chromosphere and the corona, from the centre out.

The Moon: The Blue Planet’s Satellite

It takes around 29.53059 days for the Moon, the Earth’s only satellite, to return to the same level as the Sun as seen from any point on Earth. This is known as the synodial period. The lunar calendar is arranged according to the synodial period. The phases of the Moon fall on the same day approximately once every 19 years. No answer has yet been found to question how the Moon came into existence. Although several theories have been proposed regarding the formation of the Earth and the Solar System, there are no realistic theories concerning that of the Moon.

Jupiter: The largest planet

Jupiter is the system’s fifth planet and also the largest. Its mass is twice that of all the other planets put together. It is a giant planet with a mass of 1.9 x 1027 and a circumference at the equator of 142,800 kilometers (88,730 miles). Although Mars is from time to time brighter than Jupiter, the latter is still the fourth brightest celestial body after the Sun, the Moon and Venus.

Jupiter disseminates some 2.5 times the energy it receives from the Sun, and the reason for this is believed to be that the gravitational collapse on the planet is still going on. There is a ring around Jupiter some 6500 kilometers (4039 miles) wide and several kilometers thick. This giant planet possesses a very great magnetic field, thanks to which Jupiter has 39 known moons.

Saturn

Saturn, the second largest planet in the Solar System, has a radius of 60,400 kilometers (37,530 miles), and at 1,433,000,000 kilometers (890,400 miles), it is the sixth closest planet to the Sun. Observed through a telescope, the planet has a greenish color and is the furthest planet capable of being seen with the naked eye. Because of its distance from the Sun, its surface temperature is approximately –150 °C (-238 F).

The rings around the planet were a mystery for many years, and inspired enormous interest in the planet.

Uranus: The mystery planet

Uranus is the seventh furthest planet from the Sun. Because of its distance from the Sun, very little is known about it. Our knowledge of the planet’s structure and atmosphere is mostly conjectural and based on data sent back by the space craft Voyager 2 that passed by the planet in 1986. In the light of that information, it is speculated that the planet has an atmosphere rich in hydrogen and containing methane and helium, that its surface temperature is around –221 °C (-365 F), that it has a magnetic field greater than that of the Earth’s, and that it has a rocky core.

Mars: The red planet

Mars is the fourth closest planet to the Sun. It appears red in the sky and has its own atmosphere. In terms of size, it is approximately half as big as the Earth. Equatorial daytime temperature reaches around 10 °C (50 F), but since its atmosphere is insufficient to retain that heat, night-time temperature decreases to as low as –75 °C (-103 F). One day on Mars lasts only half an hour than one day on Earth, but since it is much further from the Sun than is the Earth, a year on Mars lasts 687 days.

Neptune and Pluto

The discovery of these two planets, the furthest away from the Sun, is based totally on mathematical calculations. Neptune and Pluto, the smallest of the planets, are the two planets about which we know the least.